Melinda's Garden Moment: Ridding your garden of gray mold

MADISON (WKOW) -- With all of the rain this spring you'd expect gardens across the state to be in their prime, but sometimes wet weather can cause a fungus disease that's bad for your plants.

Brown buds that fail to open on peonies and some roses, especially the white and pink flowered varieties is likely the result of Botrytis Blight also known as Gray Mold.

This fungal disease is most common in cool rainy as well as humid weather. The disease attacks a variety of ornamental and edible plants and often is specific to the plant part infected.

The bud blast and flower blights we see here may also occur on mums, dahlias, dogwood, geraniums, hydrangea, marigolds and sunflowers.

Look for the fuzzy gray growth and small back specs on the dead tissue. Remove infected parts and place in a paper bag for disposal. And don't compost. Only clean up during dry weather as moisture helps spread the blight.

Ongoing sanitation, fall clean up and better weather is usually enough to keep this disease under control. Check out Melinda Myers' website for more gardening tips.